when you can't get back to sleep. it's an effective sleep medicine you don't take before bedtime. take it in bed only when you need it and have at least four hours left for sleep. do not take intermezzo if you have had an allergic reaction to drugs containing zolpidem, such as ambien. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath or swelling of your tongue or throat may occur and may be fatal. intermezzo should not be taken if you have taken another sleep medicine at bedtime or in the middle of the night or drank alcohol that day. do not drive or operate machinery until at least 4 hours after taking intermezzo and you're fully awake. driving, eating, or engaging in other activities while not fully awake without remembering the event the next day have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. alcohol or taking other medicines that make you sleepy may increase these risks. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. intermezzo, like most sleep medicines,

has some risk of dependency. common side effects are headache, nausea, and fatigue. so if you suffer from middle-of-the-night insomnia, ask your doctor about intermezzo and return to sleep again. ♪ that is all for "early start" this morning. >> "starting point" starts right now. welcome, everybody. our "starting point" this morning. breaking news. explosive devices found on a college campus in florida. classes have now been canceled for the morning. we'll have the very latest on this story. and a developing story, as well, homes crushed, a small plane torn to pieces. also developing a fast-moving fire follows dozens of cabins in

tennessee. flames are still devouring acres of land and dozens of people have been forced to evacuate. we'll have more details straight ahead. >> a stunning report on the republican party by the republican party. voters saying the party is marginalized, unwelcoming, and they feel unwanted. so will a new plan fix their image? and james bond type escape. two inmates bolt from prison in a hijacked helicopter. plus, are your brackets ready? march madness is set. there are definitely some surprises. and in business, a proposed bailout of cyprus is taking a toll at home. stock futures trading in the red this morning. are we in for a roller coaster ride on wall street? it's monday, march 18th and "starting point" begins right now. welcome, everybody. start with breaking news this morning, an improvised explosive

device have been found on the campus of the university of central florida in orlando. officials say classes have been cancelled until at least noon. police say they received a 911 call about a suspect with a gun. some 500 students were evacuated from a dorm on the central campus, the explosive devices were found we're being told along with the person who is dead it appears that person died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. university spokesman says that right now the bomb squad is on the scene. we're going to have more on this breaking story as soon as it becomes available to us. let's get to grant heston, the associate vice president for communications and public affairs at ucf. nice to tk to you. appreciate your time at a time when i know you're very busy. tell me a little bit about what we know at the scene right now we have one student or one person i should say who is dead is this person a stient or an outsider to the college? >> well, i can tell you right now let me start from the beginning which is about 12:20 we received a fire alarm for tower one. there are about 500 students who live there.

when our police were en route to the tower we received a 911 call for a subject with a gun. when they arrived they found a subject dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and when they were working the scene they discovered in addition to the handgun, they discovered assault weapons, and then improvised explosive devices. so out of an abundance of caution for the campus community the tower remains closed, the garage is closed and we canceled classes until at least noon today. >> okay i'm told that the fbi in addition to the ucf police and the orange county sheriff department is all on the scene. want you to walk me through a couple of things. let's start with the subject who now apparently is deceased. what can you tell me about this person? male, female, student, outside? >> i can tell you it's a male subject who was found in the dorm room. and the dorm rooms are set up in that they have a central area and there are four separate bedrooms and bathrooms. he was found in one of the bedrooms. >> tell me a little bit about the assault weapon and the improvised explosive devices. how many devices are you talking about and what kind of assault

weapon, do you know? >> i really can't get into the details of what specifically was found except it was enough for us to bring in the orange county bomb squad and the fbi here and we're proceeding extremely cautiously with what we found. our police chief is a national leader in terms of incidents on campus, preparing for them and responding to them. our students and campus community are in good hands. >> where does this stand with the bomb squad? i'm not sure how you take apart an ied? have they been neutralized yet? are you in the process of doing that? >> they're still in the process of doing that. basically went into the room, evaluated it, and have determined the best way to safely remove it from the building. >> you said it. others have said it's multiple devices. is it more than one? >> right, it's multiple devices found in one bag. >> okay. and that bag then would have been inside the bedroom of i believe you're saying the person who's now deceased?

>> i believe that is correct. >> okay. all right. so what happens now? no classes have been canceled up to 12:00 noon. what's going to happen when they make a decision? >> we'll get together and determine what's in the best interest of campus community. that's our students and faculty staff members and decide to reopen classes on the main campus. we're the second largest university in the country. we have a lot of students who come here. we want to make sure that one, they're safe, and two, that they understand exactly what we're doing here on this campus. >> grant heston joining us. we appreciate your information for us this morning. i know you're swamped with this breaking as we speak. thanks for your time. >> thank you. >> also -- you're most welcome. a scene resembling a war zone in south bend, indiana. small plane went down in a residential neighborhood. an evacuation order is now in effect, it's going to be in effect through the morning and the big concern at this point is the jet fuel. there's an investigation now into what caused this private plane to take a deadly dive.

the plane slammed into two homes, damaged a third home. winded up with the nose inside of one of the homes. jim spellman is live on the scene for us in south bend, indiana with the very latest. jim, good morning. what happened? >> it's a surreal scene here, soledad. take a look. this white metal second, that's the tail of this twin engine corporate jet. ourunder standing is that yesterday about 2:00 in the afternoon this plane took off from tulsa, oklahoma, was attempting to land here. had some sort of technical difficulty. came down to try to make an approach, bailed out for some reason, went up was going to try to come back around again to the try to land again, never made it. ntsb is on site exploring -- investigating. they have to do their initial investigation before they remove the plane from the house. here's what residents of the neighborhood told us they saw yesterday. >> my roof is caved in. there was glass everywhere. the front of the house, windows

busted out. i just grabbed my son and got him some clothes, and we ran out. >> big picture window and the plane was coming right toward me, and i was afraid it was coming in the house, and it swerved and went across the street. >> i thought that was it. when i looked up the plane was right over the top of me right then and my wife was standing in the door and i just hit the ground. i thought it was going to explode when it hit but it didn't. >> we understand that two people have died and that they were both in the airplane not on the ground. remarkably, soledad. fire officials here tell us that the people in that very home were able to walk away. >> oh, my goodness. considering what these pictures look like that's remarkable. jim spellman, thanks, appreciate the update. also happening now, wildfires across the country taking out homes, closing streets, from florida up through aiken, south carolina, myrtle beach in the carolina coast, major blaze in pigeon forge, tennessee and fort collins,

colorado. the pigeon forge fire started yesterday afternoon very quickly 213 acres have been burning so far. more than 30 cabins in that resort community have been destroyed. nearly two dozen fire departments are trying to fight that blaze. one woman said she's very worried about her firefighter husband. >> i talked to him earlier before i headed up here, and i could hear the helicopters and he said the helicopters are flying over, and about the only time i've got to communicate with him. >> meanwhile, a giant fire near myrtle beach in south carolina this weekend destroyed a dozen homes. four people were injured there. smoke from a moorth fire mixed with fog caused hazardous conditions on i-95. a number of traffic accidents to tell you about. let's get to jennifer delgado in the weather center. so when do you think the weather will cooperate, and help the folks that are trying to fight some of these fires? >> we are going to see benefit happening to the south as well as in the southeast. looking at some of these fires, anywhere in orange as well as

red that indicates some of the fires we're going to be dealing with over the last 12 to 24 hours. the red indicates pigeon forge. pigeon forge is going to see a big benefit coming today, because we are going to see a system bringing some beneficial rain. so here's the forecast. for monday, 100% chance of rain. winds 10 to 15. much more bearable than over the past couple of days. they've been gusty. we've been warm as well as very low humidity. but that's going to be climbing because you see the line of storms. they'll be making their way to parts of tennessee as well as into kentucky, even for areas like florida. they're going to benefit from some of this rainfall. but we have really two big storms out there. blizzard conditions setting up towards part of the northern plains. as well as into areas including minnesota. this is going to last through late tonight, really, to about 1:00 a.m. tuesday. 4 to 8 inches of snowfall there. look what's happening across the mid-atlantic. snow and also sleet mixing in. this is going to be in the forecast until about 1:00 this afternoon. and then more snow makes its way up towards new england. look at this, soledad.

we're talking 10 to 14 inches in some of those higher elevations, like the mountain snow. that's going to be good for the ski resorts. but for big cities like new york, as well and boston, we'll be talking about maybe 1 to 3 inches for boston. new york, maybe about a half inch for you. >> all right. i'll take it. half inch i can manage. >> all right. >> thanks, jennifer. another developing story we're watching this morning, a wild prison breakout. john berman has that. >> this is nuts. canadian police arrested two inmates who used a hijacked helicopter to pull off a daring prison escape. police say the inmates 36-year-old benjamin hudon-barbeau and 33-year-old danny provencal climbed a ladder dangling from the chopper. they were whisked away from this maximum security facility outside montreal. the first inmate and two unidentified suspects were apprehended really quickly. the second inmate surrendered peacefully overnight. so it's weird but over. a vigil on the campus of seton hill university near pittsburgh after a deadly bus

crash. the woman's lacrosse team bus skidded off the pennsylvania turnpike saturday, smashed into a tree. the bus driver and the coach of the lacrosse team who was six months pregnant were killed. there was some rain, there was some snow on the road but police have not released an official cause of the crash. in a very public display of republican soul searching, the rnc is set to release an internal review of the 2012 election, what many people are calling an autopsy report. it includes some 200-plus recommendations for reversing gop fortunes in 2016. among the recommendations, reducing the number of primary debates. moving the party's convention from august to july or even june. and to go where the report says the gop has not gone enough. we're talking about outreach, and inclusion. here's what rnc chairman reince priebus is saying about that. >> we're going to be announcing a $10 million initiative just this year which will include hundreds of people, paid, across

the country, from coast to coast, in hispanic, african-american, asian communities, talking about our party, talking about our brand, talking about what we believe in. >> at the bottom of the hour, ari fleischer the former bush white house press secretary will join us. he co-chaired this rnc project. he helped write this report. president obama expected to announce his pick for labor secretary today. it's thomas perez, the assistant attorney general who heads up the justice department civil rights division. the president also preparing for a visit to israel tomorrow. this will be his first international trip of the second term. the first of his presidency to israel after visiting jerusalem president obama heads to ramallah, and then to amman in jordan. so the ncaa collection committee has spoken. now it is all of our turns to fill out those brackets. while there is no obvious favorite in this year's tournament we do know there will be a new champ because after winning it all last year, kentucky was left out. the top seed in the 68-team torn all right are luisville, gonzaga, indiana and kansas.

i've been trying to fill out my bracket all morning. it is not easy. it should be easy for you to beat me and you can compete against all of us here at cnn. go to cnn.com/brackets. join the cnn group. the fun, of course, begins tomorrow night. >> who do you think takes it all? >> i think louisville. they're the heavy favorite overall. i can't find a reason to pick against them yet. >> how long will it take you to fill out your bracket? >> it will take me all day. my kids are going to starve tonight. >> oh, well. >> oh, well. it's one night. pope francis is going to sell rate his installation mass tomorrow. he'll meet with the president of his home country argentina today. his papacy already a little bit of controversy. the vatican disputing claims that he allowed the kidnapping of two jesuit priests in the 1970s. you'll remember that was during argentina's dirty war. these days, though, francis is a little bit of a breath of fresh air for catholics. the pontiff is not afraid to be among the people. senior international correspondent ben wedeman is in rome for us this morning. good morning.

>> good morning. it is a rainy and wet morning here in rome but pope francis is enjoying a very sunny honeymoon with the italian media. today the newspapers, the magazines, full of gushing articles. this is the magazine that published topless photos of kate middleton but the pope is getting royal treatment. street vendors are having a field day. you can either get a very small postcard or a very big poster of pope francis. the municipal -- the municipalty of rome has put out special posters that say ben sven outo francesco, welcome, francis. >> it could be any church the priest greeting worshippers one by one after sunday mass. but it wasn't any church, and it wasn't any priest. it was pope francis at the santa ana parish church in the vatican.

his charm offensive moving full steam ahead, he stepped outside the vatican and into italian territory to greet well-wishers. >> i was watching some of the video when he came out of the church, and obviously he seemed very personable. really connecting with the people. >> reporter: in his first sunday as pope francis appeared at the window of his papal apartment, overlooking a packed st. peter's square. speaking of forgiveness and compassion. and eliciting a laugh when he insisted he wasn't providing free advertising for a cardinal whose writing he praised. he ended his message with a simple wish, have a good sunday, and have a good lunch. argentineans, like the pope, already feels closer to the church. >> one of the catholic has had is they were so high, and you

know, too low. so now he's coming low and we are very happy for that. >> reporter: his personal style is going down well. >> this is a very nice, very humble, very nice. >> one group not happy, however, with the pope, is his security detail. they're having a problem with his unpredictable movements. one of his detail being quoted in the italian papers this morning saying, if he keeps up his behavior like this, they're going to go crazy. soledad? >> ben wedeman for us this morning. thank you, ben. still ahead this morning on "starting point," trial aided by social media. tears and apologies in an ohio courtroom after a young woman's attackers are found guilty of rape. mostly due to their own texts and pictures and videos. we'll have a live report on that story straight ahead.

today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers.

>> announcer: did you know there are secret black market websites around the world that sell stolen identities? >> 30-year-old american man, excellent credit rating. >> announcer: lifelock monitors thousands of these sites 24 hours a day. and if we discover any of our members' data for sale, lifelock is there with the most comprehensive identity theft protection available. [♪...] [squealing, crash] call 1-800-lifelock or go to lifelock.com today. welcome back to "starting point" and a case that's captured the nation's attention. two ohio teenagers, accused of raping a drunk 16-year-old girl during a booze-fueled night of partying back in august learned their fate on sunday morning. the high school football players for steubenville's big red never took the stand, maintained their innocence throughout. the judge found them guilty on all counts. poppy harlow was in the courtroom for the entire trial.

>> reporter: the mother of the 16-year-old victim spoke out for the first time since trent mays and ma'lik richmond raped her daughter saying this after court ended. >> it did not matter what school you went to, what city you lived in or what sports you played, human compassion is not taught by a teacher, coach or a parent. it is a god given gift and instilled in all of us. you displayed not only a lack of this compassion but a lack of any moral code. your decisions that night affected countless lives including those most dear to you. you were your own accuser through the social media that you chose to publish your criminal conduct on. this does not define who my daughter is. she will persevere, grow, and move on. i have pity for you both. i hope you fear the lord, repent for your actions and pray hard for his forgiveness. >> reporter: the convicted rapists, both teenage boys, showing remorse after being

found guilty. >> i would truly like to apologize to [ bleep ] her family, my family and the community. >> i would like to apologize. i had no intention to do anything like that. and i'm sorry to put you guys through this. i'd just like -- i just want you to understand i'm sorry. i ruined her life for life. >> the 16-year-old girl was raped during a series of late night parties in august when she was drunk. >> the court is able to view the demeanor of the witnesses, judge their credibility, and weigh the evidence presented to the court. the court has done so in this case and it is the court's decision that both of the defendants are hereby adjudicated delinquent beyond a reasonable doubt on all three counts as charged. >> ma'lik richmond sentenced to

a minimum of one year in a juvenile correction facility for rape. trent mays to a minimum of two years, guilty of rape and of taking and distributing an illegal nude photograph of the victim. both mays and richmond will also have to register as juvenile sex offenders. prosecutors said the girl was so intoxicated she wasn't capable of consenting to anything. >> this case is about a 16-year-old girl who was taken advantage of, toyed with and humiliated. and it's time that the people who did that to her are held responsible. >> reporter: eyewitness testimony from three teenage boys, all friends of mays and richmond, and all granted immunity from criminal prosecution, was damaging. one witness saying he videotaped mays performing a sexual act on the girl during a car ride between parties. two others testified they saw richmond do the same later that

night while she was lying naked on the floor. in the state of ohio, this act performed without consent constitutes rape. >> there seems to be an unbelievable casualness about rape and about sex. it's a cavalier attitude, a belief that somehow there isn't even wrong with any of this. >> reporter: text messages, tweets and photos were at the center of the trial. fellow teens vulgarly joked about the rape. song of the night is definitely "rape me" by nirvana. >> what if that was your daughter? >> but it isn't. if it was my daughter, i wouldn't care. i'd just let her be read. >> witnesses read text messes including this one about the victim from trent mays to a friend. yeah, dude, she was like a dead body. i just needed some sexual attention. there was no jury. this was a bench trial with visiting judge thomas lipps rendering a verdict because this was a juvenile case.

and, soledad, the court also ordered mays and richmond to undergo treatment while they are serving time to ensure that they don't commit another sex crime after they are released. additionally, after court, after that verdict came down yesterday, the ohio attorney general announced that he's convening a grand jury in mid-april in order to investigate whether or not there may have been additional crimes possibly perpetrated by other people related to this incident. i spoke for a long time yesterday with the civil attorney for the victim and her family, asked if they're planning to file civil charges. they haven't decided that at this point. soledad? >> poppy harlow for us. pop poppy, thanks. oh, my goodness. still ahead this morning on "starting point," right now, the proposed bailout of cyprus is affecting your stocks. we're going to talk about that. plus a programming note. you want to be sure to catch the debut of "the lead" with jake tapper. we're going to be talking with

jake in just a little bit about what's on his show tonight and also some political news, as well. [ male announcer ] research suggests cell health plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. it has 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+.

i work for 47 different companies. well, technically i work for one.

that company, the united states postal service®, works for thousands of home businesses. because at usps.com®, you can pay, print and have your packages picked up for free. i can even drop off free boxes. i wear a lot of hats. well, technically i wear one. the u.s. postal service®, no business too small. welcome back to "starting point," i'm alison kosik. minding your business this morning, stocks are set to sell off a bit today. dow futures are down about 75 points right now. we are seeing bigger declines in asia with the major averages there down. the issue, europe. yep, another country needs a bailout. this time it's cyprus, and it's a $13 billion life line. it will be the fourth country in

the eurozone -- in the european region to get a bailout. want to avoid those really annoying bank fees? why not try a credit union. a new study from bank rate says 72% of the nation's biggest credit unions offer free checking accounts. compare that to just 39% of banks that do so. of course there are usually ways to avoid the fees by carrying a minimum balance or using direct deposit. but when it's unavoidable, fees at credit unions are typically lower. but the downside to banking with a credit union is you don't have, you know, the choices of the atms, and if you go out of town if you're with a local credit union, it will be more difficult to, you know, find an atm. >> the fees find you one way or another. >> isn't it funny how that happens? that's a whole other investigation. alison thanks. up next a stunning report on the problems within the republican party from the party itself. find the gop struggling with young people, with women and minorities. ari fleischer co-chairs that report. he's going to join us to talk about that.

and this implosion had some unexpected side effects for people's homes. we'll tell you what happened. back in a moment.

many cereals say they're good for your heart, but did you know there's a cereal that's recommended by doctors? it's post shredded wheat. recommended by nine out of ten doctors to help reduce the risk of heart disease. post shredded wheat is made with only one ingredient: one hundred percent whole grain wheat, with no added sugar or salt. try adding fruit for more health benefits and more taste in your bowl. it's the ideal way to start your heart healthy day. try post shredded wheat. this has been medifacts for post shredded wheat. welcome back, everybody. we begin with breaking news this morning and an update on the story we've been talking about since the top of the hour. police and the fbi on 9 scene of the university of central florida in orlando, at an

explosive devices found in a dorm room which a university spokesperson says is also the scene of an apparent suicide. >> when our police were in route to the tower they received a 911 call for a subject with a gun. when they arrived they found a subject dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. and when they were working the scene they discovered, in addition to the handgun, they discovered assault weapons, and then impro-sized explosive devices. >> so, what we do know is that the victim of that self-inflicted gunshot wound is a male. unclear, though, if it's a student or not a student. we do understand that the body was found in one of the bedrooms in a dorm. classes have been canceled until noon. we're going to stay on top of this story and bring it to you as we get the very latest on it. also joining us this morning, our team, nice to have you guys back. former florida congressman, connie mack. mary bono mack.

winner of top chef all-stars. he also wrote the book "try this at moment" my daughter who is 12 and who is a fantastic little chef herself runs the book. >> try this as home. >> just as you advised. it's an important week for president obama. tomorrow he's going to board air force one for his first trip overseas, the second trip of his second term -- first trip of his second term. >> first international trip of the second term. >> and first trip to israel. >> ever. >> ever. >> as president. >> that's what i was trying to say. thank you for helping me. his destination, of course, is why it's important. it's the middle east. he's going to israel. one of his primary topics is the discussion with the prime minister benjamin netanyahu. they're going to focus, of course, on how to stop iran from developing a nuclear weapon. get right to athena jones this morning. she's live at the white house for us. >> good morning soledad. the white house says that the president has spent more time one-on-one with israeli prime minister netanyahu than with any other leader but that hasn't

changed the perception that their relationship is strained as they try to stop iran from developing a nuclear weapon. five years after he visited israel as a candidate, president obama is going there to reassure skeptical israelis about where he stands on iran. >> i have been crystal clear about my position on iran possessing a nuclear weapon. that, that is a red line for us. it's something that would not only be dangerous for israel, but would be dangerous for the world. >> while he says all options are on the table to stop iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, the president also wants to convince israeli leaders to allow more time for diplomacy. >> what we're going to be doing is continue to engage internationally with iran, understanding that we set up the toughest sanctions ever. it's having a significant effect. >> reporter: a tough sell, analysts say, when israel believes iran is closer to a nuclear weapon than the u.s. does. and the tense relationship between the country's leaders doesn't help.

>> president obama and prime minister netanyahu have a strained relationship for the last four years. it's difficult to see that this visit is going to change the underlying dynamic in that relationship. >> reporter: analysts say this trip is really going to be about managing middle east problems rather than solving them. and the white house is already trying to lower expectations for any big announcements or deals. still they say this is an important opportunity for the president to reaffirm the partnership with israel and our support for the palestinian authority. soledad? >> which absolutely sounds like they're lowering expectations there. thanks, athena. john berman let me ask you a question, how strained are the relations and the relationship between benjamin netanyahu and the president? i mean i know that they've obviously had some past problems but really as the election was coming closer i thought that they started to make up some lost ground? >> there's a sense that netanyahu was told by people inside the u.s. and israel that he better get on board. it looked like president obama was going to win so that it made sense for them to heal whatever

rift that there might have been, because, you know, it would be difficult. >> i think -- i think it's astonishing that the president -- this is the first trip the president has made. and then if you think back -- >> i'm surprised -- >> plenty of presidents that never went to israel at all. >> if you think back, though, when benjamin netanyahu came to the united states, tried to get a meeting with the president, if you remember all of that, i mean, this is not only is israel an ally of ours, but it's, you know, it's a strong connection between our two countries. and i think that the president needs to do a better job of not only reaching out to benjamin netanyahu and israel, but other allies around the world. i mean leadership is about standing up for your -- for your allies, for your friends, for your neighbors, and being a leader on it, instead of kind of ignoring some of the problems that are happening around the world. >> the charm offensive in israel now is on. >> it's a good thing. >> very important. >> john berman has a look at other stories. it is another crucial day for accused killer jodi arias

and the defense team. the judge will decide if dr. richard samuels can return to the stand. samuels wants to testify that arias killed her ex-boyfriend, travis alexander, in a heat of the moment and did not plan it. that detail, if proven true, could save her from the death penalty. arias admits she killed alexander, but she claims it was in self-defense. china is criticizing the pentagon's plan to install new missile defense batteries against north korea's growing nuclear threat saying it doesn't help the situation. meanwhile, a key member of congress is questioning the stability of north korean leader kim jong-un. congressman mike rogers, the chairman of the house intelligence committee, appearing on cnn's "state of the union." >> you have a 28-year-old leader, who is trying to prove himself to the military, and the military eager to have a saber rattling for their own self-interest. >> some analysts are now openly questioning whether or not kim jong-un is even in charge of north korea or if it's the military that's really in control now.

louisiana governor is uninjured in a car accident last night in baton rouge. bobby jindal was on the way home from his son's soccer game when state police say a truck made an illegal u-turn and sideswiped his vehicle. he says the governor is fine but a state trooper went to the hospital with some minor injuries. one -- here we go. >> oh! >> so success of sorts. a controlled implosion near austin, texas, brought the old bridge down. but what you can't see is that shrapnel from this blast cut a fiber optic cable. that knocked out cell phone and some land line service in three 911 centers. verizon hopes to get some service restored this morning. >> i do enjoy watching those. >> i think everybody does. >> it's incredible when they collapse the whole thing. just a few minutes ago, the republican party released details of this internal review, it was launched after losing the 2012 presidential elections. kind of unprecedented. the gop is making the results

public in a report. first few pages addresses the fact the party is divide. think also say the gop today is a tale of two parties. one of them the gubernatorial wing is growing and successful. the other, the federal wing, is increasingly marginalizing itself, and unless changes are made, it will be increasingly difficult for republicans to win another presidential election in the near future. talk a little bit more about all of this in addition to the initiative -- hire hundreds of republican staffers to be on the ground to reach out to minority voters. cnn contributor ari fleischer joins us. he's at the national press club in washington, d.c. he's there, of course, because he's part of the team that created this report. and he'll be presenting the report from there. he served as the press secretary for president george w. bush, co-chair of this project. nice to have you with us. wow, we got a lot to talk about. so 219 specific i guess suggestions in terms of -- of messaging, and -- and other

things as well although you don't make specific reports about policy initiatis. but you do say this, devastatingly, we have lost the ability to be persuasive with or welcoming to those who do not agree with us on every issue. and if you look at the table of contents, you really walk through very basically like here is exactly what we have to do, we have to -- some people say republicans don't care. america looks different. the way forward, you sort of list it all out. so what is the way forward? is it -- is it a problem of marketing? is it a problem of policy? what's been the problem? what's your analysis? >> it's all the above, soledad. and this report, 219 specific recommendations for how republicans are going to win the future. now the problem the party has is we've lost five of the last six presidential election popular votes. america demographically is changing and republicans very much remain a party that is ideological born in the 1980s. without figuring out what comes next. except at the gubernatorial level. if you look at where we have 30 governors, 315 electoral votes

among those governor states, that's the land of reform. that's where the nation's innovators live. that's where people with republican core conservative principles are connecting with people's lives and making them better, winning large shares of minority votes in all those states. there's a lesson here for federal candidates. particularly in presidential election years about how to be successful. >> how do you navigate, though, right i mean, the, the tent is big and yet you have some people who are not only disagree with each other but are in polar opposite of an issue. part of the problem i think was for example the todd akin comments, right? where that they were reflected -- but and i could list a couple others, too, and that was in the middle of the election. i think there was a cost to that. >> of course. >> how do you deal with that in dashen to and not have it become the face of the party? >> you deal with it by being blunt, by directly addressing the party's weaknesses. we blow a whistle on ourselves. we talk about how the party needs to be more inclusive, more welcoming, more inviting conservatism. one of the things as we say in

here is we have become ideological self-reinforcement but we've lost that ability to be persuasive with people who don't agree with us on every issue. what republicans need to do to have a bright future is do what the governors have done, which is if somebody doesn't agree with us on every issue, we can still work with them and get things done. that's part of what republicans historically have done. we need to get back to doing that again. >> you guys in some ways, connie and mary, have been victims of this. you lost your election, you're a moderate republican, and i bet you could have written this report yourself, right, full of anecdotes personal anecdotes. >> the next counterpoint. >> do you think that this is a good first step, as, as much of what ari is saying is sort of the governors have provided a way, i think that there are some real challenges. because evangelicals make up a big part of the party. 50%, if you look at the, the primary voters in 2012. they have some social issues that they vote on, that are important to them.

let me get to connie first, and, and, and mary and then i'll go right back to you, ari. >> first of all, great first step is that you have a problem. i think it took us a long time to get to this point. and you know, i had a congressional district that really if you look at the analysis of may race exactly it was messaging, but it was also the ground game itself. we put so much money into media and advertising and we didn't have the soldiers and the foot soldiers. california is especially tough, i'm happy to hear the party got that wake-up call plus the messaging. as a moderate i've been frustrated. i'm moderate/libertarian. i'm happy to see we're getting back to the libertarian that's going to speak to the younger generations if we have the right spokesman who isn't out there offending everybody left and right. >> first i would say that it's nice to see that ari was so involved in this report. i mean, i think he's somebody that, as republicans we have a lot of respect for. he is -- he has been a leader in our party. and understands that we have to

be more diverse when we try to campaign and ask for people for their vote. but i don't think you need a report to tell everybody that we have a problem reaching out to different groups of people around the country. and you know, as you mentioned, i'm more of a libertarian republican. i get frustrated when i see our party marginalize itself or reduce itself. you can't win elections if you narrow your scope. you have to -- if you want to win elections, you have to broaden your scope. you have to be able to disagree with inside your own party but recognize that there's a bigger goal and that is to move an economic agenda that's good for all groups of people. >> yes, but people don't -- >> -- did a report -- >> let me ask you a follow question. when you look at what the gop lost by categories, lost african-americans by a ton. lost latinos by a lot. lost asians by a lot. 73% to 26%. lost other by a lot. you definitely have this sort of

issue of diversity which is only going to be more of a problem as the nation becomes more and more diverse. how do you manage that, you know, when you talk say specifically about latinos. you have a real position in what people think immigration should look like and that is certainly one of many issues of importance to latinos. >> well, soledad, both parties have these issues. the democrats lost senior citizens by a lot. the democrats lost veterans by a lot. the democrats lost white voters by a lot. the democrats lost religious voters by a lot. both parties have these issues. for the republican party what it means is republicans need to adhere to our conservative message, our conservative core, but do so in a way that invites other people to join in. we cannot do it in a way that pushes people out or says they're not welcome. and that's been a real republican problem. we give people the impression that they're not wanted. the power of conservatism is that it's an attractive position. it should bring people in to how you make it, how you can be

successful, happy, and make it in america. that's the message of aspiration that draws people to this country and helps low-income people become middle-income people and middle-income people rise. that's the conservative core. >> i get you on the economic front i fully understand. i think everybody is on board -- >> -- social issues -- >> and you look at how -- >> -- you talk about immigration there's a challenge. then you have gay marriage. there's a challenge within the gop people who disagree. and, and young voters are more consistently for gay marriage. >> correct. >> so how will you -- >> the difference is in the democratic party, those other voices are not welcome. how many people are pro-life in the democratic party? they really are shunned. republican party is, indeed, a big tent. and we need to make sure that's a big tent, and not just rhetoric. take the issue of gay marriage, for example and gay rights. there is a genuine generational split in the republican party on that issue. many, many young conservatives are for gay rights. are for gay marriage. and we openly talk about that and acknowledge that and we welcome that. that's part of what a big tent

should be about. you don't buy that in the democratic party. you find that in a party that's growing. and america, remember, is mostly a conservative center right country. not a center left country. that's how we can be successful, win again, and follow that inclusive model that the governors have shown us. >> it will be interesting to see how the report is received when it comes out. i think it's at 8:30 you're going to announce it from the press club. ari fleischer, always nice to have you. >> thanks. >> you bet. you bet. good luck with it. cnn's jake tapper is going to have more on the the gop autopsy -- >> whose -- >> there's a lot of republicans -- actually, yeah, i didn't make that up. >> also, you can catch the launch of jake's new show called "the lead with jake tapper" this afternoon at 4:00 eastern right here on cnn. and you want to get your brackets ready. march madness, clearly some working on it all day, march madness, yes, that is not an easy chart to fill out. look at the rankings at our

bleacher report right after this break. i'm a conservative investor.

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ahead cnn chief washington correspondent jake tapper will sit down and talk with us, a little who are about the report from the rnc on the republican party. we'll geti his insight. and then part one of my interview with sheryl sandberg. she has a new book called "lean in" and it's sparking nationwide

conversations. it has some controversy, too. she adds the fact that most of her critics are women.

welcome, everybody. starting point this morning, breaking story we're following. can explosive device found on a florida college campus along with a body. we'll tell you what officials say is happening there. and a shawl jet torn to pieces after it smashes into three homes. we'll take you live to the scene. the republican party making public a report saying voters feel the party is unwelcoming

and divided. we'll talk to jake tapper about that. also developing, wildfires burning in colorado to south carolina. homes destroyed. roads closed. we'll have the details coming up. and in business, a proposed bailout of cypress is taking a toll right here at home. stock futures are down this morning. are we in for a messy day on wall street? later this hour, part one of my sit-down interview with sheryl sandberg. we'll tell you why she says people need to stop brings he willing at the word feminist. it's monday, march 18. "starting point" begins right now. welcome, everybody. connie mack is back with us, mary bono mack, and richard blais. he wrote try this at home, which we did it. i say we because really high daughter did. but it's a wonderful book.

thanks for being with us. we're following breaking news this morning. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> news coming to us from the university of central florida in orlando. an improvised explosive device has been found in a dorm room along with an apparent suicide victim who authorities say also had an assault weapon on him. 500 students have been evacuated from a dorm tower on the central campus. classes have been canceled until at least noon. the fbi is investigating along with the university police and local police, too. and the bomb squad is on the scene. want to get right to grant heston, associate vice president for communications and public affairs. thanks for talking with us. tell me quhat latest is on this investigation so far. what are the investigators doing on the scene? >> investigators have taken a look at the improvised dexplosie tw twice a device and determining the best way to get them out. >> you can tell me how many we're talking about? >> i can tell you that they were

found inside a bag in one of the dorm rooms. so orange county bomb squad, fbi and police department are working to safely get them out of will. >> anymore details at this hour about the assault weapon that was found near the body? >> there are no additional details. as you can imagine just in the beginning phases of this and our main focus right now are on making the tower one facility safe and informing the community about everything we're doing to keep them safe throughout the day. >> and i fully understand that. i'm just trying to update folks with any new information or. we appreciate your time. grant has been updating us all morning. i know you're in the middle of this as they try to neutralize the explosive devices. so thank you for talks with us. new developments to get to, as well, from a more guying plane crash we've been reporting for you in south bend, indiana. an evacuation order is in effect this morning. the big concern is jet fuel. an investigation into what exactly caused the private jet to crash into homes on iowa

street is now under way. look at these images. the plane swlamed in to two homes, damaged a third, wound up inside one of the homes. jim spelman is on the scene for us with the latest on this investigation. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. it is a surreal scene. right now all the authorities involved are all meeting at south bend airport to try to get coordinated as the sun comes up. they need to finish their preliminary investigation on the plane itself before they he can even remove it from the home. here is how maybes describe the scene yesterday when the plane crashed in to these homes. >> my roof is caved in, there was glass everywhere. the front of the house, window was busted out. i just grabbed my son and got him some cloth and we ran out. >> i have a big picture window and the plane was coming right

toward me. and i was afraid it was coming in the house. and it swerved and went across the street. >> i thought that was it. i mean, when i looked up, the plane was right over the top of me right then and my wife was standing in the door and i just hit the ground. i thought it was going to explode when it hit, but it didn't. >> reporter: we do know the two people who have reportedly died were in the plane, not in the home. and i think it's remarkable the fire department here told us that the people inside this very home were able to walk away. remarkable. >> yeah, absolutely stunning. jim spellman for us this morning. thank you for the update. in a few minutes we'll talk with a volunteer with the red cross. an unusual event, national political party bearing its soul. what it will do to get voters back. the rnc is what we're talking about. it's a so-called autopsy report, includes more than 200 recommendations for reversing the gop fortunes come 2016.

and among those recommendations are reducing the number of primary debate, moving the party's convention from august to late june or july. and to go where the report says the gop hasn't gone enough, talking about outreach and inclusion. definitely work to be done with 62% of voters saying the republican party is out of touch with the american people. jack tapper hosts the lead, it will debut today at 4:00 p.m. eastern. we'll talk more about that in just a moment. but jake, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> how unusual is this? i cannot remember a time when there's been this sort of assessment of why we lost full with a complete report which is mailed out to -- e-mailed out to everybody and then a press conference to announce it. >> it is unusual. it's unique, but by the same token, the republican party is in a bit of a bind. they have lost the popular vote in four out of the last five presidential elections. and president obama i think even president obama's top aides would say was imminently beatable last november and yet he really trounced mitt romney.

so in addition to the messaging problem that the republican party clearly has, there's also a demographic problem that they face and that's why you had the soul searching. it was necessary not only to reassure the party activists, but also i think to get donors reassured, as well. there was a risk there that some people were going to stop giving money to the republican party. >> when i talked to ari fleischer in our last hour, he said the message that we have to have is that it's a big tent and here's what he said. >> both parties have these issues. for the republican party, what it means is that republicans need to adhere to our conservative message, our conservative core, but do so in a way that invites other people to join in. we can not do it in a way that pushes people out or says they're not welcome. that's been a real republican problem. we give people the impression that they're not wanted. the power of conservative is that it's an attractive position, it should bring people in because it's how you make it, that's how you can be successful, happy, and make it

in america. >> this is a big challenge because i don't think it's just about the dressing up of the message. i think that is the tent really big enough to take some messaging, some policy messages, that are completely contradictory. >> that's right. one of the problems of course is that young people, just one example, on the issue of same-sex marriage, that ship has sailed. young people in future generations will look back at this time and in all likelihood wonder why there was such resistance to embracing same-sex marriage if you look at the polls of young people today. but there is a point that ari is touching on that this autopsy touches on, as well, which is the way that the issues are discussed. when mitt romney talked about self deportation of illegal immigrants, the message he was saying to the immigrant community was we're going to make life of so difficult for those who are in this country illegally that they will voluntarily go back to the country that they were fleeing. and what jeb bush in his book

referred to this as, he talked about this as a gateway issue. in other words, you can't even get latinos in the door to listen to the message you have about the economy, about health care, about education. because they're so turned off by the rhetoric about illegal immigration. and that i think is what ari and the republican party is talking about now. >> so john berman has covered politics for a gazillion years. richard, you are my nonpolitico. are you moved? is there a sense of a relaunch? >> i'm the type of person that i'm to be persuaded, right some but to me, i know especially this 18 to 29 group, i just feel like it seems like marketing. and i hear the word brand and to me that makes it seem that it's not authentic. so i think social issues, but this idea of the package and -- it just seems like a branding and a marketing thing and i think a lot of young people are pretty wise to that sort of approach. >> so let's go right back then

to jake. when you look at the cpac, right, and the straw poll that came out of that, you had rand paul winning with 25%, right behind was marco rubio, something like 23%. and you had contra ticker to me contradictory messages. again, polar opposites on the state of the republican party.t contradictory messages. again, polar opposites on the state of the republican party. >> they do disagree especially when it comes to national defense and international relations. but that is clearly where the energy is in the republican party right now. the tea party republicans, the libertarian republican, and that is why there was so much energy and excitement around individuals like marco rubio and rand paul and it would be interesting to see how much the republican party, the establishment republican party that is very wary of the libertarian philosophy, especially when it comes to same-sex marriage, especially when it comes to international policy, and the establishment party that is wary of the tea

party in many ways because of the difficulty they've had controlling their unruly tea party republican base in the house of representatives. how much they embrace these groups, that is where we'll really see how much the republican party is willing to change. >> in just about 20 minutes, they will be at the press club in washington, d.c. announcing the results of this study, so i'm sure it will be on your show, the lead with jake tapper 4:00 this afternoon. thank, jake, appreciate it. lots of stories to cover as well this morning. wildfires erupting across the country. john has that and lots of other stories, too. happening right it now, devastating wildfires in several parts of the country. fast moving fire has engulfed part of pigeon forge, tennessee. this started yesterday afternoon. at least 213 acres burning so far. more than 30 cab bibs have been destroyed. giant fire near myrtle beach which has destroyed dozens of homes and injured at least four

people. jennifer delgado is in the weather center. any help on the way for these communities? >> yeah, we will see some help in the form of rain moving in especially to the pigeon forge fire. we'll see the showers popping up as we go later into the morning as well as into the afternoon. here is the forecast for monday, winds from the south 10 to 15, so not as gusty as yesterday. and increased amount of moisture. and that is good news. but keep in mind, it's still a little bit early to see some of these fires popping up. we have warnings for areas even including parts of colorado down to new mexico. now, for today, with the storms that we're predicting, we'll see a chance for severe storms from mississippi all the way over towards georgia. and that includes atlanta. the storms are already fired up, that is what will bring that rain very badly needed to pigeon forge. as we go later today. and then up towards the north, we're talking snow, blizzard conditions are expected through late this evening until about 1:00 a.m. on tuesday for parts of the upper plains. that includes minnesota. and then we move over to mid-atlantic, and we're talking

light snow out there mixed in with some sleet up until about 1:00. that is for virginia, washington, d.c. area. and then the snow moves up towards the north, we'll see potentially 10 to 14 inches, a lot of this coming down new england and those higher elevations. that is really going to start later on this evening into tomorrow. so mid-atlantic, snow and sleet, messy travel conditions out there. back over to you. >> jennifer, sounds like a lot to watch. >> a lot out there. new developments in a dramatic prison escape that went down in broad daylight yesterday at a maximum security facility outside of montreal. the would inmates climbed a ladder dangling from a hijacked helicopter and were flown away while swinging from the moving chopper. the first inmate and two unidentified suspects were tracked down quickly. the second inmate surrendered overnight. so passengers when were aboard the carnival legend are now off the ship and unloading on the cruise company after finally making it back to tampa

yesterday. >> it was the worst vacation i've ever had. >> the dining room was shaking violently for at least 35 minutes. >> i plan on contacting my lawyer, i plan on contacting the better business bureau, i plan on writing 3w4re7b9 of complaints on their website. >> those are some tough reviews right there. propulsion problems cut it from moving atop speed. u.s. coast guard inspected its repairs and cleared the ship to set sale wisaying with new passengers for another week long cruise. chuck schumer is pushing for a cruise ship passenger bill of rights offering refunds for canceled outing, beefed up medical staffing and backup power sources. so it seens that will and kate don't quite agree on the gender of their unborn baby. >> the train has left the station. >> is he revealed to a soldier that she would prefer a boy. while husband william would prefer a girl. middleton is five months pregnant, due this july. i think it was last week where she seemed to let it slip that

they think they're having a girl. >> oh, please. >> the smoke screen. >> totally. first of all, the gender of the baby is the gender. they just need to deliver him or her and now he says this and she says that? just covers all their bases. please. just good pr. all right. still ahead, more on that deadly plane crash in the quiet indiana neighborhood, forced dozens of evacuations. jackie lincoln askis a voluntee with the red cross and will join us next. and then my interview with sheryl sandberg, what she said when i asked her about the fact that most of her critics are women. diarrhea, gas, bloating? yes! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. live the regular life. phillips'.

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there are two dead, three homes damaged after a small jet slammed in to a south bend, indiana neighborhood. joining us from there this morning is jackie lincoln, a volunteer with the red cross, at the scene of the crash. thanks for talking with us.

tell me what it looks like now, what's happening right now on the ground. >> right now it just looks like a big mess. the plane is still in the house. there is emergency people walking all around. quite quiet, very serene, very he peaceful, too. >> really. is that because there have been evacuation orders and everybody has pretty much evacuated because of the fears of the jet fuel? >> yes, that's true. yes. >> what's the plan? >> very quiet. >> we can sort of hear it behind you. i don't hear any sirens, all these things that i would have expected behind you. what's the plan, what are they telling you will happen today? >> they're going to try to get the plane out of the house today, but they're still concerned about the jet fuel that's in the basement. >> okay. and what will happen to the folks, have they given them any information about when they will be able to return to their homes? >> no.

they have not yet. the electricity and the water and the gas is still shut off because there was a gas leak yesterday, but everything should be straightened out probably next couple days. >> this must be such a devastating thing for this community. my goodness. the pictures are really honestly unbelievable. what is the red cross doing for not just the people who have been directly impacted by the jet, but also the greater community there. >> well, last night we opened up a shelter and we did have a few people in there. and as far as i know, i really don't know what's going on today because i haven't checked with the chapter, but i'll contact them later on this morning. >> we wish you the best of luck. i know you have a lot of work ahead of you as the community tries to get back together. jackie lincoln from the red cross, thank you for your time. appreciate it. still ahead this morning on "starting point," we could see a big market selloff.

teeny tiny country responsible for all of it, we'll tell you. and outrage over this nazi salute that came from a soccer player on the field. he's learning his punishment. everyone's retirement dream is different;

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welcome back to "starting point". minding your business this morning, another bailout in europe wreaking havoc on stock markets around the world. dow futures are down about 90 points. the good news is that's an improvement from a few hours ago when futures were off about 150 points. in asia, the major averages overnight dropped 1% to 2% each. this time it's cypress that needs a bailout, a tiny island south of turkey. but it is being watched closely because its bailout is especially contentious because it includes a tax on bank deposits meaning people who live there would be tax the on the money that they put if to their accounts. so they're nervous about this. many rushed to withdrawal their money. a vote on the bailout has been postponed until tomorrow.

this will be the fourth bailout for europe. this really turns into quite the game changer for the eurozone for the debt crisis because it means a bank doesn't have to fail to take these people's money. just tax it right off. trending online this morning, a lineup of stars have been stopping by to visit lil wayne at cedars-sinai hospital in l.a.. a friend says he's good, he's just resting. and a message on twitter says i'm good everybody, thanks for the prayers and love. and if you think that emma watson will strip that i canned for 50 shades of gray movie? not going to happen. an internal server indicated she is contracted to star in the hot selling book. she tweeted who here actually

thinks i would do "fifty shades of grey" as a movie like really for real in real life smi guess that's a no. greek soccer player has reportedly been banned from his national team for life for allegedly flashing a nazi salute after scoring a goal. it's a greek soccer federation called it a deep in-sault to su nazi victims. he said he wouldn't have made thes gesture if he knew what it meant. at first he said he was pointing to a friend in the stands with all fingerses of my hand. video went viral. you see the guy at the left trying to pull his hand down. same day greece marked the 70th anniversary of the deportation of the country's jews to world war ii extermination camps. so harsh punishment for him. and no surprise there. >> there are other things to do after you score a goal. >> first he claimed he was point

to go a friend and people were like that's not believable, try to come up with something he said. and then he said he didn't know. but harsh punishment. >> of course he knew. how do you not know? >> seemed a little strange. >> looked a little after the goal was scored, too. like up in the stands. >> a lot of time had passed. he said i want to clarify i'm not a fascist or neo nazi. i have a stepbrother from puerto rico. that falls in the many of my friends are black. my family is from the black sea, experienced racism in the worst way and went on to apologize. and the fact i did not know what i was doing is no excuse. and he's out. still ahead, facebook executive sheryl sandberg causing some controversy with her new book called "lean in." i spoke to her about the critics who say her advice might be unrealistic for some women. and then the great cookie hoax. such a sad turned great story. girl scouts duped by someone who ordered 6,000 boxes.

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in a few moments we'll take a look at my interview with sheryl sandberg. first, though, john berman has a look at the day's top stories. a newspaper in london will pay substantial damages to a british lawmaker that accessed personal information from her stolen cell phone according to her aide. no word on how much mcdouonough

will be paid. the agreement was reached in london's high court. possible break in the death of a new york woman this istanbul. officials taking a 46-year-old homeless man into custody. they used dna from his brother to tie him to the crime. the woman's body found february 2, her killer struck her in the head. the mother of two had gone to turkey on vacation alone. ireland's prime minister delivering a st. patrick's day message to super storm sandy ravaged new york neighborhood, deep your spirits up. he toured breezy point five months after sandy pounded the area. he said ireland may not be able to help financially, but it can help with the visible presence of those who come roll up their sleeves and get to work. someone pulled like a really mean prank on girl scouts this portland, oregon. ordering $24,000 worth of cookies, and they not paying up. but it looks like the scouts will recover their cookie dough,

or money. they were stuck with 6,000 unsold boxes of cookies, but a last minute emergency sale this weekend had hundreds of people lining up to buy. >> i wanted to support the girl scouts and felt bad about the story that we heard on the news yesterday. w wasn't a good thing. and i like the cookies. >> a hard lesson, but a really important and value able busine lesson to learn that there are people out that there don't have your best intentions at heart. >> i guess ready for a job at wall street. a local station says the prankster will not be charged since no money was exchanged. the remaining 3,000 boxes will go on sale next weekend. >> i love that people jumped in. because it mean as they can't goat to camp if they don't sell those boxes. >> they're headed to camp. so there has been much debate over a controversial new book written by facebook coo sheryl sandberg. it's called "lean in."

and it encourages women to be leaders and shallritics say her advice is unreal list tig. i had a chance to sit down with sheryl sandberg in facebook's new york office. here's what she said. >> it's not about fixing women and it's certainly not about, you know, anyone can do this all on their own. it's about all of us coming together to understand the stereotypes that are holding women back. and fix them. >> reporter: sheryl sandberg is on a mission. the 43-year-old coo of facebook is going media door to media door selling her new book and her message about a modern feminist movement. >> you say the revolution, the feminist revolution, has stalled. and gloria stein emsays it's in the middle. are you picking up the mantle of feminism? many people bristle againsts that word. >> i wrote that i never used the word feminism to describe myself until a number of years ago. when i was in college or even

recently, you don't want to be a feminist. >> why not? >> feminists don't get dates. fem ninist wills were angry or done because everything was going to be equal. when i was in college, we believed everything would be equal. no one talked about work life balance that i remember. no one worried about these things. we thought it would be equal. but it hasn't worked out that way. and i now proudly call myself a feminist. >> hi, guys, how are you? >> and sandberg may j the righf the modern feminist to make it work. harvard educated, her professor tapped her to be his chief of staff while he was at the u.s. treasury. she later jumped to silicon valley when eric schmidt of google offered per a job. when mark zuckerberg and facebook came calling, she made the move. in between all that, she got married and had two children. a boy now seven and a girl five. as coo, sandberg is one of only 21 female executives in the fortune 500.

she says it's time to change that. >> when i got on stage 2 1/2 years ago and said the blunt truth is men ran the world, the audience gasped fast this was news. i sat down at an exclusive conference next to a man who looked at me and said remember us. i was like what do you mean? remember us. there is a place for white men in the world. and i looked at him and said are you looking away this conference? there has never been a company in your industry not run by a white man. he said, oh, no, no, change is coming. well, it's been ten years with no progress at the top of corporate america and that's stagnation. and "lean in" has stirred up a heated debate. i'm grateful for that debate because i think that's our only chance of waking up to this problem. >> reporter: the book is chapter after chapter of advice examples and studies. it lays out the problems women face and how they can fix them.

this has led to strong criticism from women like maureen dowd who say sandberg's book sun realistic for the woman who isn't in the c suite and can't afford private planes and a staff of household help. >> "usa today," even if they have good intentions are setting back the cause of working mothers. sandberg's argument that equality in the workplace just requires women to pull themselves up by the boot straps and goes on and on basically saying that you're out of touch with the average working woman. >> so if you read the book, i'm very clear the institutional policies and changes we need. but more importantly, the research shows something very conclusively, which is that when more women are in senior management roles, those companies have better work life policies for women. >> when you talk about your mentors in the book, it's mostly men. >> i've never worked for a woman. i have been really lucky and i've had great mentors and great sponsors and part of lean in is

trying to help people find the right way to develop those mentors and sponsors. and saying to every man out there it should be a badge of honor to mentor a young woman. not something you're as shamed to do, not something you're afraid someone will assume something bad, but a badge of honor that you're willing to spend your time giving benefit of your experience to young women in the workforce. they need it. >> most of your critics are women. >> most of the debate about lean in as been women especially for the first couple weeks before the book was out. someone asked me what was the most surprising thing. the most surprising thing was that no one said a word. i could find a man writing a line saying a word. >> so what do you think that means? that they will just keep their head down? >> i think it's too hard for men to talk about gender. a friend of mine who runs a large institution said it's easier to talk about your sex life in public as a man than talk about gender. i hope men enter the conversation and the controversy around my book. because in every issue, not just mine, every issue p. because we need men to talk

about this, too, if it's ever going to change. >> what's the up side for men some if ymen? if it you're 51% of the population, you'll do better. >> i was talking about this and he said if we evaluate even jse leaders, we're looking at how many followers do you have. you'll outperform your peers. >> new this morning, sand berpg's written an opinion piece for cnn.com. she says this, by talking openly about the challenges that women face in the workplace and at home, we can work towards solutions together. we can't i go authorize the subject any longer. we need to listen, talk and listen, debate, learn and evolve and take action. let's talk to the men. let's hear from the men as sheryl says. >> john? >> anybody? >> i think the most surprising thing to me about this whole last two weeks or week has been just the controversy this has caused.

because i think if you read what you say, i'm not sure what she's saying that is so controversial. or changes the discussion people have been having for years. >> i think some people think the advice of lean into young women, you should lean in until the minute you have to make that decision, i think people feel like that advice is great for certain types of women and for other women who are maybe not dealing with aiming for the sea sweep, but who are more in poverty or lower middle to lower middle class, that that's challenging advice. because it doesn't realistically take the look at the reasons that you lean back, which can be your kids can be that your husband is not going to contribute. which is depend in the interview, she sort of says, yes, i fully get that, but i think this advice can be relevant. >> i didn't read the book. but i've certainly had -- >> but your wife is sitting next to you. >> yes. but with the controversy, i

guess i don't understand the controversy. i mean, i'm picking up bits and pieces of successful woman has written a book that other women are taking offense to. and i find that to be interesting. >> i think some of it highlights the problem, right? jim collins wrote good to great and a bunch of other great business books. and no one wrote op-eds saying jim collins really isn't focusing on those people who run small companies, jim collins isn't really dealing -- his advice is for big companies, people who want to lead big major successful companies. i think when women write a business book, it's really picked apart. >> but it's being picked apart bay other women. >> mostly. so therein is the question. why is that? >> there is no one answer. i have a 22-year-old daughter. i care deeply about what sheryl has to say, what everybody has to say. there is no one answer for a woman's life. and i think -- >> or for a person's life. >> but we're talking about women, john. >> right.

agreed. >> i just leaned in and it didn't go over so well. >> yes, dear. >> you can either be right or you be happy. you choose. but my 22-year-old daughter, i care deeply about this because she's at a point in her life where she can choose. my mother, you know, when my late husband died and gi got to run for congress, she gave up her career to stay home and raised four children and it darn they're killed her and she was the first person to say you need to run, you need to do this. so i was lucky that i had a woman push me and make me lean this. so is this book is important. i don't know why women pick it apart. perhaps because we do accept the fact that not all of our lives are the same. but the important thing is that every woman should choose her life her way. so that's how i feel. but i haven't read the book. but i'm glad she wrote it. >> i thought the book was great and i think some of the criticism, too, is to focus on the policy changes. if you could create a way to

give more women time off for maternity leave, for example. and i took no time at all for any of my kids. but i think that there are people who say there are structural things in place, not necessarily fixes that women need to do themselves or in addition to those things women can do to help themselves, structurally there are things that could change to make the work place more equitable so that women could rise to the top of the hierarchy. however you feel, it's a great book. >> i think practically the fact that so many people are now talking about this book, she wrote a book that is stirring up some controversy -- >> number one on amazon. >> that's kind of what you want. >> and all the proceeds go to her organization lean in which is to help support these conversatio conversations. part two of the interview tomorrow. going to talk about the whole likability thing, how it can get in the wave women succeeding at work. still ahead, after rob portman reversed his stance on gay marriage, john boehner says he couldn't have had to make the same shift.

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on a day when we are talking about the rnc new report about how the party needs to be more open to women and minority, we're hearing from john boehner about gay marriage. he was reacting to ohio senator rob portman's announcement that he reversed his stance on gay marriage after his son came out to him, said he was gay. here is what he said on abc's "this week". >> listen, i believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. it's what i grew up with, it's what i believe, it's what my church teaches me. and i can't imagine that position would ever change. >> boehner says he considers

portman an ally, but it does harken back to the new gop report. that's a challenge, right is this because speaker boehner talked about it's what his church teaches him. and then you have senator portman who would say what my experience with my son teaches me is the polar opposite of something that is a moral issue, it has polly simply indications, right? that's a challenge. >> and i think especially wheni right? that's a challenge. >> and i think especially when it hatches to your family, you can relate to it much closer. i also have the position that marriage is between one man and one woman. but that isn't mean that i don't think that there can't be unions of people who want to live together and have the same rights as people who are married. i think we can do both. i don't think you can force a religious institution to perform

marriages that they don't think is right. >> but the difference there is that the civil union and marriage are not exactly the same thing. and they're not exactly the same thing in a couple of different ways, important ways. one way is in medical coverage. >> but that -- you're talking about a definition. and what i'm saying is that i think the institution of marriage is a religious institution. but you can have the unions that has the same -- that affords the same people as a male/female marriage the same rights and the same protections under the law. >> you can get married by a justice of the peace or captain of a ship. can those unions be called civil marriage. >> we disagree on this. >> i think that it's important to recognize that when you talk about marriage, it is a religious institution and that people can still have the same rights and privileges, but you

wouldn't want to force the church to perform those ceremonies and recognize it as a marriage. >> we have to go to commercial break, but this is a challenge. i think this is the big tent issue. but still ahead, new movie takes an unprecedented look at a moment in history when women were clohosen on sink for the troops in vietnam. all stations come over to mission a for a final go. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers.

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the movie the sapphire is being called the australian dream girls.

the story of four young women in the '60s who form an all girl soul group. they get sent to vietnam to entertain u.s. troops. ♪ >> your name again? >> we're the sapphires. >> we'll see you in saigon. ♪ >> if you can't shake your money maker for the brothers tonight, you're on the first plane back to austria tomorrow. >> australia. >> the movie opens on friday for u.s. audiences in new york and los angeles. john berman got to sit down with the four stars to talk about the film. >> i'm joined now by the sapphires. welcome, thank you for coming in today. so this is based on a really remarkable true story. what's the background? ?

it's about four women and they got the opportunity to go to vietnam and sing for the troops. >> three of you actually grew up together and auditioned together. >> yes. grew up together loosely. the hometown is so small. we all have connections. we didn't necessarily hang out together or anything, but we all knew of each other and our parents with were friends. miranda and i were at the same acting school in sydney and we were back home doing a little local theater play and we both auditioned together and then spent the next eight months auditioning the four of us. >> eight months of auditioning? does it help to know each other to sing together like that? >> it was more like the auditions were more based on the characters and the drama of the film. because the family relationship

is so important. casting these four women, i keep saying the chemistry was as important as casting twilight. like it had to be right. had to be perfect. >> it sounds like -- so part of the fun part of the movie is the evolution of this group growing together and it sort of sounds like you had an evolution as you were auditions. let's play a small clip. ♪ >> all i can say is wow. i'm a sucker for music. was it hard to learn the dance moves? >> certainly we spent a lot of time working with our wonderful

choreographer, steven page. yeah, it was. there were moments where we'd just be houuf f'ing and puffing and out of breath and just lovely moments where we had beautiful with who is loving you. all were incredibly amazing songs. >> so the subject of amazing, the reviews have not been bad one bit. from the hollywood reporter, it says a jewel bright charmer about four spunky women whose voiceske putted them on to the world stage. pretty good, right?

so what's next? >> it's been the global response to this film has been phenomenal. and every time we think it's just about to die down, it picks back up again. and now this is -- i don't know, i feel like this might be the end of it all. we're coming to the end of the sapphires era in terms of audiences and cinemas and things like that. so who knows from here. >> then we'll just have to see the movie so we can see you all sing together. thank you so much for joining me. the movie opens soon. we'll be right back. balanc? try align. it's the number one ge recommended probiotic that helps maintain digestive balance. ♪ stay in the groove with align.